Free Mechanics Textbooks

Mechanics studies the behavior of objects in motion and how that motion effects the surrounding environment. Aristotle, Archimedes, Galileo, Kepler and Sir Isaac Newton are just some of the most influential physicists to have studied mechanics.

Mechanics is generally broken into somewhat separate disciplines – classical mechanics and quantum mechanics. From the best I can understand, classical mechanics relies heavily upon mathematics to predict the exact location and velocity of particles at a particular time while quantum mechanics considers the probability of where the object will be. Students of classical mechanics will study things like the organization of the periodic table, thermodynamics, wave theory and Newton’s work. It is often referred to as Newtonian mechanics.

Whether you are studying classical mechanics or quantum mechanics, The Free Textbook List, has found a number of free online physics textbooks that should aid in your studies. Even if your professor and university have not adopted one of these books as the primary textbook, I’m certain that students will find materials here that will aid in their understanding.

List of Free Mechanics Textbooks

Written by: Michael Cohen, Professor Emeritus Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Pennsylvania

Free online classical mechanics textbook by Michael Cohen entitled Classical Mechanics: a Critical Introduction. Designed by the author to read like a tutor explaining concepts one-on-one to a student.